Reporter: Graham Kidnapping Suspect Described as 'Prowler'

26 Sep 2014

Investigative journalist and “Inside Charlottesville” host Coy Barefoot reported that LJ Matthew, the man arrested as a suspect in the disappearance of missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, was described by acquaintances as a “prowler” who “might look for a woman who might be intoxicated, might be compromised, might be a little vulnerable because, in his words ‘he would have a better chance’” on Friday’s “Situation Room” on CNN.

“I spoke with people who were partying with Mr. Matthew that night. I spoke with people who were in Tempo [the restaurant Graham was seen outside of with Matthew the night she disappeared], and they described his behavior as disturbing, erratic, aggressive. He was constantly tracking these women around the bar, putting his arm around them touching their hair, touching their back, touching their legs, and one of the young women with whom I spoke told me that she finally had to tell him, keep your ‘f-ing hands off me.’ And that took place just about an hour before he ran into Hannah here on the downtown mall” he stated

Coy’s longer report on the “Inside Charlottesville” website also says “throughout the night, LJ Matthew demonstrated a troubling lack of respect for the physical boundaries of women and men— or perhaps even a deeper lack of understanding that those boundaries exist.” Although, he does note “LJ Matthew’s behavior that evening— as reported by eyewitnesses and the people socializing with him— while quite troubling in light of the disappearance of Hannah Graham, the subsequent charges against him and his arrest, does not make him guilty of any crime with which he’s been charged. In fact, as one friend casually said to me during the course of my investigation, ‘He sounds like most men I run into when I’m out on a Friday night.’”